Asus Launching Eee PC Netbooks with Ubuntu

Three ASUS Eee PC models now sport Ubuntu 10.10 in addition to the Windows 7 Starter option.

Thursday Canonical sent along a note announcing that its Ubuntu Linux OS (10.10) is now available pre-loaded on three ASUS Eee PC models including the 1001PXD, the 1011PX and the 1015PX. More models packing Ubuntu will be made available throughout the year.

"The Eee PC with Ubuntu is ideal for consumers and businesses," the company said. "The hardware is sleek and lightweight and energy efficient while Ubuntu is safe, intuitive and stable. Ubuntu includes a complete office suite making it easy to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations and share them with Microsoft Windows users. A full, rich Internet experience is available with Mozilla Firefox and Adobe Flash pre-installed."

The ASUS 1001PXD, otherwise known as the ASUS Eee PC Seashell, features a 10.1-inch LED backlight WSVGA non-glare screen, Intel's Atom N455 CPU, 1 or 2 GB of DDR3 memory, and a 160 to 320 GB 5,400RPM HDD. The 1011PX sports a meatier dual-core Intel Atom N570 (or N455) CPU and essentially the same specs as the Seashell, but with dual boot capabilities thrown in. The 1015PX supposedly offers notebook performance in a netbook size seemingly using more of the same but with a larger HDD (up to 500 GB).

Typically all three netbooks ship with Microsoft's Windows 7 Starter OS, but now there's an option to choose the lighter Ubuntu OS instead. "Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux is used by more than 20 million people across the world today," the company added. "It is available to download for free at Ubuntu.com and also ships preloaded with other original equipment manufacturers, including Dell."

The three ASUS Eee PC models, 1001PXD, 1011PX and 1015PX, is available with Ubuntu 10.10 pre-installed from June 1st 2011 through ASUS sales channels.